Pierced
by Zoser
Summary: Sam's reaction to Jack's injury.
1. Pain

It was one of your milk runs, a meet and greet, get the soil samples and check out the local ruins with the standard trees. Crap, it was a damned rain forest of trees. They had met three of the indigenous peoples who looked for all the world like your South American perhaps Amazonian native. They sat together around a campfire sharing some forest creature the Indians, for want of a better word, were roasting and attempted to communicate. Daniel was having just a small degree of success but they seemed more interested in trading and in the blond haired woman. O'Neill was uneasy with their hands touching their stuff, trying to touch his pack, his weapon, his Major. Teal'c caught O'Neill's eye and then glanced toward the forest to their left. Although well hidden he could detect stealthy movements in the understory.  
  
Still smiling O'Neill said "Okay campers, we're are going to leave right now. No arguments. Keep smiling. Daniel, tell them we need to back for more trade goods and we'll be right back. Major, you're right after me, dial up and send the signal. Teal'c you're on our six. Wait I've got an idea. Fill their hands with any unnecessary stuff you've got in your pack, candy bars or blankets. Lighten your load cause we're going to haul ass."  
  
Daniel started to object but thought better of it. He had begun to feel crowded by these seemingly friendly yet aggressive natives and there was that unsettling rustling in the bushes. Teal'c and O'Neill's hyper vigilance was unsettling as well. So Daniel made their apologies, they all gave them MRE's and other tokens and they were off to the stargate. They tried to appear as though they were just anxious to return home for more goods but the façade fell away as the arrows began to fly.  
  
O'Neill stood on the edge of the platform, weapon at the ready, urging his team on when an arrow grazed his calf. He and Teal'c covered their teammates as the wormhole was established and the signal sent.  
  
"Go, go, go." O'Neill yelled as he felt the impact of another arrow in his backpack wishing he had one of Daniel's books in there. He thought he would look like a porcupine when he finally got though. Right on Teal'c tail he came through but not before an arrow pierced his left shoulder and another his right thigh. As he stepped through and he could hear them yelling to close the iris. He felt the last arrow imbed itself in his left shoulder. He would have fallen flat on his face carried over by the impact of the last arrow but for Teal'c and Carter reaching out their hands. The medics rushed up and lifted him off onto a gurney.  
  
Sam could only look at her hand. It was full of his blood; it was running between her fingers, it was dripping down her arm. Dimly she heard the general shouting "Major Carter report" But she could only stare at the warm blood that filled her palm. She couldn't wipe it on her BDU's, it was his blood. Looking now at the general she stretched out her hand to him by way of explaining fore she had no words. She closed her hand in a fist and held it close to her chest. A medic led her away. He glanced over his shoulder and to the general he simply said "Shock, Sir."  
  
The medics pulled her into the infirmary near the area where they were working on O'Neill. People were talking at her but their voices were distant and incomprehensible. She stood stock still watching as they cut his clothes off. The blood soaked cloth hit the floor with a splat. The arrow ridden backpack clattered to the floor. They were inserting IV's and catheters and attaching leads. She couldn't move. This body that she had loved, she had coveted, she had denied, lay before her. She was afraid that she had let his life slip through her fingers, through the fingers of her blood stained hand. She heard the heart monitor beep and heard him gasp and time started again. She let herself be led away to be treated. They were checking her for the source of all the blood on the front of her uniform and only came up with a puncture in the palm of her hand. She stared into her hand that they had cleaned but she still saw a palm filled with his blood.  
  
Daniel and Teal'c, each sporting bandages came to Sam's side to check on her condition.  
  
"The Colonel – where's the colonel?"  
  
"Surgery, Sam. It will probably be a while."  
  
"He's alive?"  
  
Although she had seen him just minutes before she desperately needed reassurance. Never before had they seen Major Carter drop her professional mask in public. Her concern for O'Neill was visceral.  
  
Daniel and Teal'c each had a few scrapes but nothing serious and Carter was unscathed except for the pain of O'Neill's injuries and the cut in her palm. 


	2. Blood

She awoke to the rays of sunlight stabbing through her closed eyelids. Her hand itched and she lay in bed thinking about this last mission. When would their luck run out, when would one of them fall and not get up again? Would the only thing she had to show for her life's work be a hand full of blood, his blood.  
  
That morning she entered the infirmary before seven. She need to see him breathing. She tried to rationalize it to herself but knew better. There he lay a mass of tubes and wires, on his side propped up with pillows. He was covered only by a sheet. With one arm heavily bandaged and immobilized, the nurses decided to forego the hospital gown as just one more thing to contend with if he crashed. Thinking he might be cold she placed her hand on his forearm and was surprised to feel the heat. She pressed the call button and flew to Janet's office. No, not Janet's anymore, one more pain to contend with, one more empty gapping hole in her soul. She roused the doctor on call and followed him back to O'Neill's bedside.  
  
They had planned to make a more thorough examination of his back later that day when they were confident that his condition was not only stable but improved. When the arrows were examined and analyzed for any traces of poisons they noticed some of the tips were splintered or broken. They surmised that the pieces were either in his pack, clothing or his back. So they rolled him slightly more onto his chest, the sheet sliding down to barely cover his hip, while the doctor sat behind him probing the puncture wounds in his back. There were calls for instruments and better lighting, she heard none of this, she saw only him. Sam stood by his head, feeling for all the world as though she were protecting her fallen comrade. When they probed a particularly deep wound and extracted a large chuck of wood, some fool grasped his bandaged shoulder to steady him, he gasped in pain as his eyes flew open. He saw her, tried to say her name with no strength behind his words, tried to reach out to her with no strength to move an arm. He didn't know where he was or why they were torturing him only that she was there with him and he could trust her. His eyes would not stay open. He tried again and her name came out in a hiss of breathe, barely vocalized. This she heard, not the doctors orders, not the clatter of instruments, she heard him. 


	3. Comfort

It had been 10 days since the incident and O'Neill was finally home. It was one of those languid late summer weeks, the days warm and sunny, the evening cooling just enough to sleep comfortably. Daniel drove him home but he found Sam in his kitchen when he got there.  
  
"You're not going to cook are you?"  
  
She raised her index finger and made to poke at his still bandaged shoulder. O'Neill immediately cried uncle. She told him he had better get some rest cause they would all be there for a barbecue the next day and he was cooking, thank you very much. He smiled and was delighted but somewhat taken aback when she touched his cheek and pressed her cheek against his other cheek and whispered welcome home. She told him she would be back tomorrow to help and not to worry they would take care of everything. He was dead on his feet but didn't want to lie down while she was still there. She filled a glass with water gave it to him with his meds and told him again she would see him tomorrow and was gone, leaving him in Daniel's capable hands.  
The next day she arrived around eleven with a few bags of groceries and a long list for Daniel. With Daniel off to the market to purchase an assortment of salads, snacks and beverages, she unpacked the ingredients to make kebobs. This way O'Neill could barbecue without too much fuss and eat without someone helping him.  
  
O'Neill was fresh from the shower and the incredibly difficult challenge of dressing himself. And there in his kitchen in a sun dress was his Major. Well not right now, he was on medical leave of an indeterminate time. They were all on down time but the rest of the team would be reassigned or form a new SG-1 while he was gone. He had talked to Hammond about retirement or reassignment to a myriad of options, from selecting new trainees from the academy to lecturing on off world situations to ambassador to the Asgard. Ah but back to the sun dress. Yes, back was the operant word, there was no back. She gave him some skewers and they made the kebobs from the chunks of marinated lamb and chicken and assorted vegetables. He felt damned good. One of the local eleven year olds could probably knock him over with out too much effort but he was feeling good. Maybe it was the drugs but he thought it was the sun dress. Sam got up to put the food in the fridge until the fire was good and hot and the rest of the gang showed up. She washed her hands in the sink. Her hand still stung; the cut in her palm had reopen so many times and was her constant reminder. He followed her lead washing his hands, not realizing how tiring the first day back could be. He drank a glass of water then turned around at the sink sensing her closeness. She leaned into him and he engulfed her with his good arm. He almost drew back but there was no where to go and her arms were tight around him. So he let himself enjoy the moment, the velvety softness of her bare back and the intoxicating feeling of her in his arms, ah, arm. Naturally the door bell rang and the door opened with accompanying voices of Daniel and the rest of the guests. Jack was surprised she didn't jump away from him but casually turned to greeted everyone with one arm still wrapped around his back.  
  
Later when Hammond arrived, after the usual pleasantries, he had a private chat with Jack. He handed him a manila folder and wished him luck.  
  
God, he was whipped and all he did was watch his team barbecue in his own back yard and eat a little supper with them.. He had come inside to take his meds and have a sit down in the cool quiet of his living room. It was, what, not two weeks ago or so that they were on that tropical planet. If he closed his eyes he could see it and feel it all again.  
He felt the arrow pierce his leg, then his shoulder and thigh. All the pin pricks in his back, he didn't know if he would make to safety. Then he was on the ramp; home free when the last arrow nailed him, sent him flying into the abyss of pain and then darkness. All he could remember was her face – terrified, her reaching out for him then nothing until the medics flung him on the gurney. The pain radiated through his body, trying not to breathe as each jostling movement of the gurney sent wave after wave of nauseating torture through him.  
  
He looked up to see her standing there. It was already getting dark. He must have fallen asleep in the chair and felt a little foolish.  
  
"Daniel is putting out the trash. Do you want him to stay? I offered to relieve him tonight. He's got an early morning"  
  
"Do you think I need a keeper." She just stared at him. "Do you want to?" He continued. She confused him even when he had his wits about him.  
  
"If you want…"  
  
"Hey Jack."  
  
"Daniel, thanks for…"  
  
"Thanks for dinner and I guess I'll see you in a few days."  
  
"What's up? Oh yeah, rock collecting with SG-11. Want to hang around have a beer?"  
  
"Thanks but to coincide with the morning of their day we have to leave here around 4:30."  
  
"Ouch."  
  
"See you all in a few days." With all the good nights said Daniel drove home leaving Sam and Jack in the living room.  
  
"Want to go to bed."  
  
'Thought you'd never ask' was on the tip of his tongue but his just smiled instead.  
  
She flushed slightly "You are a dirty old man."  
  
"Thanks, Carter, you know how to hurt a guy when he's down – who are you calling old."  
  
She reappeared with a glass of water and meds.  
  
"Didn't I just swallow these?" He took the offered pills and stood up just a little shaky.  
  
"Come on I'll give you a hand with your ahh…"  
  
"I can take care of myself. Take a look at this." He handed her the folder that the general had given him and trudged off to his bed room.  
  
A few moments and many curses later she knocked on his bedroom door and came in. She finished unbuttoning his shirt, slipped it off his shoulders and then knelt to untie his boot laces and remove boots and socks.  
  
"This makes me feel like a little kid."  
  
"You liked dirty old man better?" She made him smile in spite of himself. When she rose he stood too. She went too unbutton his jeans.  
  
"I can do that." But somehow he found his good hand at to nape of her neck untying the top of her sundress. She was standing so close to him that it did not fall to her waist. She slid her arm around his waist. He wondered what the hell he was doing. It must be the drugs. He was so tired and knew that there was no way in hell he could begin to please her, exhausted, drugged to the gills and his shoulder throbbing.  
  
"Stay" was all he said.  
  
She told him to get comfortable in bed. So he struggled out of his jeans and lay on his side throbbing shoulder up. After draping her sundress over a chair she lay behind him, close almost touching. So that if he needed anything, anything at all she was there. 


End file.
